Hunters and Hybrids
by The Kimnapper
Summary: Hazel woke up disoriented and lazily, as has been common for the past few months. The room around her was drab and boring. Her hands were in iron mitts and chained to the floor... An injured and wanted witch shows up with hints of a plot to take down the Sparda twins. Rated for language, violence; TW are more specific within. A slow paced romance between Vergil and a femOC.
1. Chapter 1

**This is all head cannon rules about the witches. You see very little spell work in DMC, but it's confirmed to exist in cannon. PM or review if you have a question. Trigger Warning: Non-explicit mention of rape in this chapter and some explicit violence and descriptions of inuries throughout the story.**

**V***V**

Hazel woke up disoriented and lazily, as has been common for the past few months. The room around her was drab and boring. Her hands were in iron mitts and chained to the floor. The metal still felt cold to her, even after all this time with her hands in them. She had a gag in her mouth and numbers written across her forehead. The guard that saw to her came in, shutting the door behind him, his entrance was what had woken her. "I'm here with your daily meal." He said with a sneer as he put the bread and water at the foot of her bed, his hands reaching for his belt. "You'll have to earn it, though. All of you bitches will until an heir is produced."

Hazel had gotten very good at tuning this part out of her day. She had been saving up enough willpower over her imprisonment to cast a spell, despite the iron she was bound in. Hazel just needed to wait until he touched the metal and steel herself for the pain that was going to hit her. The lightening scorched her hands and burned her arms, but it knocked the guard out, if not killed him. Hazel didn't wait to find out. She hit the useless metal against the floor, breaking it. Hazel undid her gag with heavily injured fingers, tears rolling down her cheek and her face flushed. She grabbed the knife from the guard's belt and slit his throat, the warm blood splashing over her sickeningly. Quickly grabbing the piece of bread, Hazel left, not allowing her to care about the other girls. This could be her only chance to escape. The other guards were blind, they detected her as a demon because of the blood all over her and she took the chance to run.

V***V

Dante and Vergil hadn't a lot of jobs of late, the final harvest had just ended and they normally had a few weeks off before demons came back, attaching and attacking because of all the greed in the air. Dante was playing with a wicked looking demonic blade he took as a trophy while his twin was reading some sort of novel. The fact that Vergil was out of his room implied that he was in one of his less introverted moods, and Dante was thinking about asking him to play a card game with him when the doorbell rang.

"Ugh, It's your turn to get it, bro." Dante was feeling lazy and he had just gotten the perfect rhythm for twirling the knife around.

Vergil didn't miss a beat before replying. "It's a female. That means, it's for you."

"It's raining, how can you tell?"

"Because I'm not an imbecile." Vergil said and his brother got up to go see the door.

At first, he thought she was some drug addict. Her eyes were beady, her skin unhealthily pale, and she looked like she was going to throw up. And then he saw the splotches of demon blood across her that the rain hadn't washed away. She was wearing some type of a paper gown, like one would see on a patient at a hospital. She was soaked, but barely shivering, and then Dante noticed her hands, the were charred to the bone, some tissue still hanging off. "Uh, babe, you okay?"

She shook her head slightly and then was ill with the effort that that took her. Hazel raised her useless arm and pulled down the collar of her robe slightly, trying to show him the tattoo that would mark as a witch, and hoped he still recognized her. Hazel gave up trying to stay awake and passed out.

Dante awkwardly caught her before she could hit the ground and carried her into the living room, kicking his front door shut to keep the cold rain outside. "Vergil, I'm not sure what she is. She may not be human; she either killed a demon or rolled around in one's blood." Dante set her down gently onto the couch.

"There have been human hunters before, Lady is not the only one." Vergil said as he was getting up to look at the female.

"They don't all look like junkies with skeleton hands." Dante fished around his desk for a green orb.

An outline of the tattoo on the girl caught Vergil's eye, and he pulled down the collar of her robe down. "And they are not all witches. We need to put up more wards before we heal her, Dante."

"I don't think she's dangerous, bro."

"And that is exactly why she is. Anybody could have sent her here. We don't know what her motives are, but we know she has the touch of magic. We either put the wards up and then heal her, or we kill her."

"Fine, fine. I'll go get the book." He said and trudged into his basement. The basement was where they kept everything that they took off the streets for mortal's safety. That included everything from demonic drugs to weapons, and even the occasional spell book. The particular spell book was one that he had found on his very first job, and he had been using every since. Even though, the appearance freaked him out. It was on very old leather, possibly human skin, and it was written in what looked to be a potion that the author had used for ink. The book was about combating magics of all types.

He picked it up and walked upstairs to Vergil, who had already gotten out the other ingredients in the warding spell. Until they deactivated the spell, the only types of magic that would work in the area are pre-prepared potions and the like. They cast it quickly and quietly, neither of them wanting to drag it out for different reasons. When that was finished, Vergil went back to her and studied the tattoo across her collarbones. "I believe she was born a witch, that's rare. This type of mark wouldn't happen on somebody who just came across a book of spells."

"What's that mean? Besides the obvious." Dante cleaned up after the spell."

"It means that she is more powerful than the alternative." Vergil picked up her arm and turned it gently, seeing the path that lighting took up her arms. "Judging by the amount of demon blood that was once on her, there are three possibilities. Hunters were after her because she has a price on her head, she escaped from a demonic prison, or she likes to roll around in demon blood. When she wakes, we will get the entire story."

"Well, she came to us. That means that we won't have to fight another coven, right?" Dante said with a shallow smile. "Does she look familiar to you?" He looked down at the girl, her face hidden beneath messy and greasy hair, matted with blood. Her skin was dirty, despite the heavy rainfall outside. She was gaunt. Dante didn't really like the look too much, so he knew that she wasn't one of the ladies that he had slept with.

"You said yourself that she looked like a junkie." Vergil sighed as he opened his book again. "That look is not in any short supply around here." He added to sate them both, she _did_ look rather familiar. But he couldn't place her and so he chalked it up to coincidence. Dante shrugged and sat back down, playing with his knife.

They had watches through the night; Vergil took the second one and so was alone when the girl started to stir. Her face scrunched for a moment and the nagging feeling of recognition cracked into place. "Dante." Vergil called calmly, knowing his brother would hear and that he would come. "I think I recognize her." He began when Dante walked into the room. "We took a contract to escort her somewhere a few years ago… We assumed she was possessed or dead after the fight." Vergil downplayed the horrific sight. Neither brother liked to think too much on it, it had been one of their few failures, and a drastic one at that.

"Hazel? She wasn't a witch." Dante cocked an eyebrow. "She was human, if a disturbed one. That little miss is at least part demon, I smell it on her."

"Perhaps she was possessed at some point." Vergil shrugged. He was sure that this was Hazel. "Perhaps even a demonic virus was what awoke her spell weaving abilities?"

"How could that have gotten past the seal?"

"I couldn't have." Vergil confirmed. "If that's what happened, they toke her past the seal and then took her back after she was afflicted."

Dante looked at the girl again, she had dropped to an unhealthy weight and her hair had gotten less thick, but it was her. "How the hell would she have survived that? Demons don't typically like outsiders."

"If a powerful enough demon ordered it… She was captured five years ago, that was right after we killed Mundus. Who knows what that did to the power struggle?" Vergil sighed. "Somebody is likely trying to kill us again."

Hazel woke up and immediately she felt sick. She rolled to her side lazily and threw up a slimy liquid, what the boys recognized as the green orb they gave her. With the expelling of the potion, she felt the spell rip through her again, her skin burning again and the electricity giving her a jolt of energy. With the pain and the strange surroundings, she screamed. Her arms weren't as bad as they had been, so she could hold them to her as she shook, afraid that this was another trick of the demons that had captured her.

"Hazel, calm down." Vergil snapped at her, remembering that the girl was prone to panic attacks. "You came to Dante last night after you killed a demon. Do you remember?"

She nodded and then threw up again, the cracks where the lightening went through her hands deepened again and the burns radiated further from them. She took deep breaths before she sat back up. Nobody spoke as she took deep breaths and looked around. "I don't remember coming here; did you guys pick me up?" Her voice was gravelly and soft.

"Naw, babe. You showed up last night. What do you remember?"

She shrugged. "It's a long story. Can I have something to eat? Maybe a shower and another green orb? I promise not to make a mess on your floor this time."

"I will get you a glass of water. If you can keep that down, we will give you food and another green orb." Vergil stood and started to get a towel. "Dante, get a towel." He added as he walked out.

"How long has it been since that… fight?" Hazel asked Dante when he returned with a towel and placed on the floor to soak up her sick.

"Just over five years."

"It's felt like longer." She looked down at her hands, the lightening pattern was up to her elbows on both arms, the cuts were deep, but the heat cauterized it, letting no blood escape. "I did this?" She asked incredulously. "I remember casting the spell, but I feel like this should hurt more. I had been cuffed in iron, I had to cast the spell, but it had nowhere to go but up my arms."

Vergil reentered the room and handed her the glass of water. "Drink this slowly. And start from what you remember when you can."

"Right." She said after a small sip. "Well …"

V***V

_Five Years Ago_

_Jay walked up to Dante's shop and knocked on the door. "This is dumb." Hazel said openly. "I've been safe at home before." She said to her older brother._

"_You won't hate it here. Dante is… nice." Hazel rolled her eyes. Jay knew what women thought of Dante and he was sure she wouldn't hate him. "And it's just for a week."_

_Dante opened the door then, shrugging on a tight-fitting tee shirt over black jeans. Hazel pushed her glasses up her nose and looked him up and down, quickly getting an eyeful of him. Maybe she wouldn't hate it completely. "Hey, babe," Hey began while thrusting his hand out to her._

"_This is Hazel, Dante," Jay put an emphasis on her name, giving Dante a final reminder to keep his hands, and everything else, off her._

"_I'm Dante." He said as he took her hand. "Why don't you go into the living room, first door on your right, b-Hazel." He waited until she was out of earshot. "She's a cutie, you sure you had the same mother?" He teased._

"_She's only eighteen, Dante. Look, she's in college- she probably has work to do for this week. Just… let her do it. I'll be back next Thursday." Jay began to take a step back. "Be good, Dante."_

"_Hey, I put on a shirt, didn't I?" He called back with a chuckle before shutting the door. When he walked into the living room, he saw her looking at the skulls and weaponry hung on the wall._

"_You kill a lot of demons." She noticed the case where he kept his devil arms. "With demons. Though those are mainly for show, aren't they? You like to display your battles that you've won." She looked back over her shoulder at him. "You like attention, don't you, Dante?"_

_He shrugged. "It's a demon thing." He said while going to get a glass of tomato juice. "You thirsty, babe?" He shouted to her._

"_No, thank you." Hazel sat on the couch and pulled out a book. "So are you a trader like my brother? Or are you a hunter primarily?" She asked him when he came back in._

"_I'm a hunter. I've traded for certain relics with your brother, though." He came back in, drinking the juice from a can._

"_Are you who he gets the orbs from?" She asked him, her eyes slightly squinting._

"_As far as I know. He'll give me relics and such that he comes across that are too dangerous to sell. I give him orbs, or some weapons or something that I come across. My brother and I are the only half-demons, and the only ones that aren't affected by the seal. Real demons wouldn't take too kindly to what he does." He said and wondered immediately if it was too much._

"_Why would a demon care? Doesn't he just sell the stuff to rich people?"_

"_Yeah, but objects can be affected by the seal. So if he takes all the non-broken things, and instead of giving them to power thirsty demons, he gives them to cults, witches, or just regular people? Demons hate that shit, babe."_

_Hazel nodded. "I see." She bit her lip for a second._

_Dante smiled awkwardly, unsure what to say around her. He hated silence, and he hated quiet people even more. Hazel put in ear buds and began to read, leaving Dante alone with his thoughts again. Hazel stole glances at Dante a couple of times, but otherwise she kept to herself._

"_Do you just live on pizza?" She asked him after two days._

"_Pretty much. Vergil will watch you tonight- he'll probably pick up something else." He almost added a joke about her not having to worry too much about her weight, but he decided against it. She was carrying a few extra pounds and he didn't know how she would react to a joke about it. Females were always so insecure about those types of things._

"_That's your brother, right?"_

"_Yeah. He's umm… he's hostile. He won't hurt you, but he has a stick up his ass. You'll probably do well to just… not engage him in conversation or get in his way or something." Dante warned._

"_Okay." She said with a small laugh, thinking she was exaggerating._

"_Well, don't say I didn't warn you."_

_V***V_

_When Dante came home that night, Vergil and Hazel were playing Risk and discussing some book he hadn't read. "Well aren't you two cozy?" He teased._

"_Hardly. The girl challenged me." Vergil cut off any other comments from his brother._

_Hazel laughed as she placed her troops throughout her countries. "This is hardly a challenge, though."_

"_You were lucky." Vergil replied dryly as thunder boomed outside._

"_Please." Hazel dismissed. Dante watched the game proceed for a while. Hazel was winning slightly and that infuriated Vergil, which amused Dante. "I'm going to get a glass of water, don't cheat- I've memorized the amount of troops I have." She said with an amused smirk while getting up._

_When Hazel was in the kitchen, she saw through the neighbor's window. A split second when she thought about there being people in front of and behind her. She felt trapped. Hazel felt her heart begin to pound and her body began to shake. It had been months since she had an episode like this. She started to hyperventilate and Dante came rushing in. "Babe? What's the problem?"_

_Hazel didn't answer. She couldn't speak. Logic was past her and all Dante was doing was crowding her, which made it worse. The storm outside grew louder and she tried to concentrate on that. Hazel tried to think of open spaces and the sky. She wasn't trapped. She could stand up and walk outside. The storm was louder and louder and Hazel then found it deafening. She didn't quite know how much time passed as she was trapped in her fear. Lightening struck a few times and then the storm halted. Hazel started to take deep breaths and took Dante's hand for help standing._

"_I'm sorry- that hasn't happened in months."_

"_It's okay, babe. You good now?" Dante creased his brows slightly_

V***V

"I know that bringing that up seems random." Hazel took another small sip of her water, finishing it. "But I keep dwelling on it. If I hadn't seen your neighbors, I wouldn't have had that panic attack. Then Jay wouldn't have insisted on picking me up early. He wouldn't have called you all for help. I would have gotten my degree by now."

"You said that that hadn't happened in months at the time." Vergil began, wondering if this truly was a coincidence. "Were you on medicine?"

"No, the medicines all gave me sleep issues and migraines. I had a service dog." Hazel saw it start to click together. "He died less than a week after the plans were made for me during that week. Somebody hit him." She sighed out. "Fuck, I don't know how I didn't see it earlier."

"At the ambush, were you immediately captured when you backed off? What happened after that?" Dante pressed for more information.

"They took me to hell."

**V***V**

**I update one of my stories every Friday. Which one I update depends on how inspired I am to create another chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Five Years Ago:_

_Hazel got off the phone with her brother. She hadn't been able to sleep or keep any food down since her panic attack last night. "He's coming to get me." She reported to Dante, holding her knees to her chest. She hadn't been back in the kitchen since and she just wanted to get out of here. She wanted to be back in her own room, not sleeping on some stranger's couch. She felt simultaneously embarrassed and exhausted. Her brother had to cancel a deal with somebody- probably earning bad notoriety. She hated that she had panic attacks. She hated that she couldn't just calm herself down like a normal person. Hazel felt like she needed something constant- even if it wasn't her home, she needed her brother._

"_That's good." Dante said slowly. He had no idea how to console somebody- especially when it's their own brain attacking them. He felt for her- he had had nightmares and obsessions for years after his Mother died. This was of a different sort- but he understood how she could be feeling. They spent the day watching TV, until Dante got a call in the afternoon. He stepped onto his porch to take it, seeing it was from Jay._

"_Hey, man. What's going on?" Dante greeted easily. He just heard panicky screams and gunshots before Jay picked his phone back up again._

"_Dante! There are Demons everywhere. I'm safe for now- but you gotta hurry here. Get Hazel out of there."_

"_Whoa, calm down. Tell me where you are."_

"_I just passed mile marker five on interstate forty-one. One of those bastards knows something he shouldn't." Heavy thuds were in the background. "Make sure that you or Vergil stays with Hazel at all times. We can all meet up here. Hurry Dante." Jay whispered the last parts frantically and hung up his phone._

_Dante hung up and immediately called his brother to meet him over here as soon as possible. After Vergil agreed, sounding bored and put off, Dante rushed back inside. "Hey, babe, pack up. We're going to go meet your brother as soon as Vergil gets here."_

"_What? Is he okay?"_

"_I don't know. But that's why we're leaving soon."_

"_Okay." Hazel pulled on a sweatshirt and stuffed her books and laptop back into her bag._

_Dante, unsurprisingly, took longer to get ready. He grabbed handfuls of green orbs and threw them into a sack and then stuffed his pockets with them, before strapping on Rebellion and Ebony and Ivory. He looked dangerous and ready to strike. Hazel had started to feel normal again in the past few hours, but the situation made her stomach start to twist again._

_When Vergil arrived, she was ushered into the back seat of Dante's car. She fell asleep and woke up only when Dante woke her up. "Hey, I'm gonna give you the keys to my car. You stick with me or Vergil, but if we tell you to, take off and drive away."_

_Hazel nodded. "Good. Come on." This Dante was not the one that she had been flirting with. This Dante was scary. She thought that at least Vergil was constant- he was grumpy last night and now he just had somewhere to point his anger._

_When they got out of the car, Dante led her by the arm, holding her too tightly. She was too nervous to tell him to loosen his grip. When the first demon appeared, Dante roughly threw her away, making her smack her head on a tree. Soon more followed. Dante flashed a bright red and then there was only a grotesque monster before her. She looked to Vergil, who apparently had transformed as well. The twins were surrounded by demons and more were coming even as some turned to dust. Hazel stood up slowly, her back against the tree. Her glasses had fallen off and broke and her ears were ringing._

"_Get out of here, girl!" She heard one of the twins shout to her. Hazel ran back to the car on unsteady legs and with fuzzy vision. She felt a warm liquid trail down her face and she wiped it away, red staining her vision even worse. She got into Dante's car and started it, starting to drive away and unsure where she was supposed to go. There were demons in front of her, but she put her foot down hard and saw them either get trapped under or get out of the way. It was hard to tell where the road was, her vision kept getting stained with blood and her head ached, as well as the fuzziness from her glasses being shattered. It was hard to tell the gradual runoff she did from the road, but she wound up hitting a tree off the side of the road._

_The steering column drove into her ribs and right arm, breaking several bones with a loud crack. Hazel slumped out of the car and pulled out her phone, unsure if she should call Dante, Jay, or an ambulance. Before she could decide, a shadowy figure picked her up tenderly, wary of her injuries._

V***V

"I thought it was one of you two that picked me up. The pain from the crash… was overwhelming at the time. Now I know that I would live that through one hundred times if it meant I didn't have to go through that ritual to get these powers." Hazel looked back down at her arms, the burnt flesh disgusting her. She felt her stomach lurch and she started to cough, her stomach trying to expel contents it didn't have. Vergil slid a bucket in between her hands and felt her forehead.

"Dante, you're on better terms with Lady than I am, ask her to come over and tell her to bring her supplies." He said as he rubbed the girl's back slightly. "She has a fever, and if she was anybody else, I would suggest we take her to the Hospital." Dante nodded and walked out the room, dialing the number. "Hazel, we have to bring your fever down." He explained to her. "An associate will come over and she can give you medicine for pain and something that will help with your nausea. Until then, you're going to have to have an ice bath. Your fever is too high and a witch having a seizure or stroke is not something I desire to be around." Hazel nodded slightly as the water she drank spilled into the bucket. "I will go draw the bath now."

Vergil came back a few minutes later and picked the girl up carefully, leading her to the bathroom. She shivered and screamed after Vergil set her in the bath, large chunks of ice floating around her. Vergil dunked her head under the water quickly, Hazel shooting up sputtering and coughing. The water ran red as some of the blood washed out of her normally auburn hair. He pulled the plug out and turned the shower on, the water pelting her and forcing her to scream more, the rush of cold painful.

"Keep calm, Hazel." Vergil said, though she wasn't sure if he meant it as consolidation or a threat. "You're not trapped. I'm trying to help you." He added as he held her chin up and washed more of the blood out of her hair. "Take deep breaths. The door is right there and it's open." Hazel felt the blurriness that was panic ebb from her mind- something that only Jay and Midis, her dog, had ever been able to do.

In a few minutes, some of her hair hung limply, but most was still matted to her scalp. Vergil put his hand to her forehead, feeling that her fever had gone down he turned off the water. He held a hand down to her, which she gladly took, and helped her out of the tub. When she stood, Vergil wrapped a towel around her and helped her back into the living room.

She wasn't entirely sure if it was possible that she would ever be warm again and she shook so badly Vergil picked her up after a few steps. "Were you able to contact her?" Vergil asked Dante as he set Hazel down.

"Yeah, she'll be here soon. You two done playing bath time?" He asked humorlessly.

Vergil shot his twin a nasty glare and stepped away from Hazel, retaking his seat in a chair across from her. The silence was tense and it made Hazel wonder if she missed something. The time seemed to drag until this "Lady" showed up. A short-haired brunette with a rocket launcher on her back, a briefcase in one hand, and long metal pole in the other hand. She looked at the girl and sighed, kneeling in front Hazel her and pulling out a four-legged base on wheels for the pole she carried.

"Is this another damsel you rescued, then?" She asked Dante. "Where did you find her?"

"I'll tell you later." Dante dismissed the hunter.

"Whatever." Lady rolled her eyes as she hung a bag of saline fluid from the pole. "Give me your arm, hun." Lady asked nicely, but snapped at the girl and twitched her fingers. "Are you on any drugs?" She asked as she stuck a needle into her arm, hooking up the IV. Lady ignored the burn marks and managed to find a useable vein. She had seen far weirder shit in the years she's known the twins.

"No." Hazel stuttered out.

When she said that, Lady pushed a plunger that Hazel didn't notice she had set up. As Hazel's eyes grew heavier, Lady chuckled and turned to Dante. "I hope she wasn't lying. This shit will kill her if she's on any depressants."

Dante filled her in on Hazel as Lady injected several more things into her. "I'm not a nurse, Dante." Lady chuckled. "I can barely help humans- I have no idea how she'll react to this shit." She looked down at the unconscious girl before bringing her legs onto the couch. "Go get her a blanket- her fever has broken and I gave her medicine that should help. Also if you have dry clothes, that'd be good." Lady shook her head. She understood why the twins seemed so set on helping her now- she relied on them and they failed her. For five years, she was at the thrall of demons- something that Lady would rather die than face and she knew the boys knew that Hazel likely felt the same. Vergil was all about honor and Dante was about helping people- this failure was a strike to both of them. Beyond that, she also knew that both of the boys had taken something of a shine to her- even if neither of them would admit it to Lady.

Dante put clean clothes on the couch for her and draped a blanket over the small girl as Lady mixed half a green orb into Hazel's IV bag. "Would you mind changing her?" He asked Lady quietly. "I don't want her to be too embarrassed when she wakes up."

"Sure," Lady said as the boys walked out of the room. Lady ripped the sleeve of her robe and peeled it off the girl, an eyebrow quirking at the tattoos across her chest and stomach. "So, what do you intend to do with her after she's recovered."

"That will take a while." Vergil replied. "But I suppose she is free to go if she doesn't pose a threat to us."

"She doesn't have a lot of places where she can go." Dante frowned at his brother. "Especially not if the demons are still after her. I think we owe her enough to help her with that."

"Well let me know when you're going after them." Lady insisted. "I'll help if I can."

"We don't even know where they are, if any still live, Dante." Vergil reminded his rash twin. "We will hear the rest of her story when she is well and then we will make a decision." Dante was surprised at his twin. Normally Vergil made plans upon plans and he didn't like to delay in the making or carrying out.

"Okay- well I have to go." Lady began. "Mix the other half of the green orb in with the next bag she gets. She'll run out and need a refill in about six hours. Give her a syringe every four hours. I left enough bags and medicine for two days- she'll be tired the whole time, but she should wake up in a few hours." Lady bowed slightly before going to collect her other belongings.

V***V

Hazel woke up in the same fashion as she had been for months- but this time was different. She had a blanket around her and an IV in her arm. She remembered Lady coming over earlier and giving her medicine. Hazel felt like she could smile if she wasn't so tired. She tried to sit up, but she couldn't feel her neck. "Hi Vergil." She greeted the dour twin, who was currently changing her IV bag.

"Are you going to stay awake this time?" He asked with a slight smirk.

"No!" She threw back at him. "Is that a problem?"

"Not for me, Hazel. You've pretty much been asleep for two days, though."

"Am I feeling better, yet?" She asked angrily. "Or do you do nothing?"

Vergil's smirk flicked back into existence for a second. "If you aren't, you very soon will be." He pulled the cap off a syringe and hooked it into her IV.

"Are you here to kill me?" Hazel said as she licked her lips.

"No." He pushed the plunger slowly. "This is the last syringe. When you wake up again, you can have plain soup."

"And we can play risk. We never finished our game and I still remember the layout. I finished the game over and over in my head. There is no way you'll win." She said with an awkward amount of energy.

"You still have it memorized?" Vergil asked and wondered if she was saying this because of the drugs or not.

"Of course." She said and poked him in the stomach before listing off the amount of troops and ownership of each country. "And you had three Calvary in Argentina." She finished as her blinks were getting longer.

"When you wake up, Hazel." Vergil promised, doubting that she would remember. Her listing off the troupes sounded right, but Vergil had forgotten about the game entirely until she mentioned it the other day.

When the drugs wore off, Hazel sat up slowly and flexed her fingers. Her arms were healed, but the lightening-like scars remained. She noticed that her fingernails had started to grow back in, little nubs of mushy nails. She wasn't sure that they would ever grow back completely.

"So she awakes!" Dante jokingly celebrated. "I was starting to think Vergil had been kicking you- you've only been waking up on his shifts to watch you."

"Maybe he was kicking me." She slurred her tongue heavy. "I feel hungover." She swallowed and wiped at her mouth.

"You are, in a sense." Dante said. Hazel turned around and saw Dante leaning back in his chair, his feet propped up on his desk. He had been flipping through a magazine that now lay abandoned as he got up. "How're you feeling?"

"Alive. Safe." Hazel said with joy. "Hungry." She ran a hand through her hair and didn't get even an inch through it. "Disgusted." She added when her hand came back greasy and dirty. "I don't remember the last time I showered, save for the other day." Hazel yawned. "What did Lady give me, anyway?"

"Something effective." Dante laughed. "I don't know where she gets all the medical stuff, but she wouldn't put somebody in danger."

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Hazel asked after a moment- not wanting to face silence again.

"I can't promise I'll have an answer."

"Did you guys ever look for me?" Hazel looked up to him and brought her knees up to her chest.

"Yeah." Dante sat on the coffee table in front of the couch. "For months- Vergil and I both did. We… assumed you were dead, after a while."

"I'm sorry about your car."

"I'm sorry about your life." Dante countered, a rare moment of seriousness fluttering across his face. He wasn't sure if she understood that she could never have something normal anymore.

"Oh. You don't need to be." Hazel plucked at the blanket and looked away from him. "I was taken on your watch, yes- but they would have sent all of Hell after me. They were just trying to kill two birds with one stone, I suppose." Her green eyes were bloodshot and it made her look rather frightening- the colors popping out against each other and against her pasty skin.

"Do you want something to eat? Vergil told me that you can have soup when you get up." Dante changed the subject.

"That'd be great, Dante."

Vergil came back soon after Dante gave her some soup. The trio sat in Dante's living room awkwardly, none of them wanting to bring up the second part of the story. "So… I guess I should continue the story." Hazel said while looking down into her bowl.

_V***V_

_Hazel woke up from her bones being re-broken and set. She screamed as the pain shot through her and choked on a dirt-tasting liquid. "Sallow. It'll make you better."_

"_Jay?" Hazel asked out after she swallowed._

"_No. He's dead."_

_Hazel realized she didn't recognize the voice. "Who are you?"_

"_Your new master, girlie." The man stepped into the light and she saw wicked looking horns coming from his head. His skin was a sickly green and his eyes a dark purple._

V***V

"A demon claimed you? Was he very powerful?" Vergil had leaned towards her, intrigued by the story.

"More than claimed. And I don't think so; I was able to kill him before I even trained."

"You trained?" Vergil was sure he heard her wrong, but then she nodded. "Why would they give a prisoner and a slave the tools to escape?"

"I'll get there, Vergil." She smiled weakly.

_V***V_

_He took very good care of her and the five other girls that were there. He said they were waiting for something. And that things would change soon. Many demons passed through their rooms to see the girls, commenting about how pretty or feisty they were. They were all about the same age, but that's where the similarities ended. They weren't allowed to talk to each other often, but Hazel was good at noticing things. One of the girls had been pregnant- the demon killed the baby at the start of their imprisonment. Two of the girls were still in high school, one was deaf, and one of them had an English accent._

_They were different races and they didn't look anything like each other. One of the high school students was always tapping her fingers on something. Hazel supposed she was either a smoker or a piano player and missed the habit._

_They were all there for forty three days before she saw the lab that she woke up in again. Until then, they all had separate bedrooms and only saw each other for meals. Hazel spent most of this time cowering and crying, afraid of every sound and every shadow. When the demon brought her into the lab again, she saw that all of the girls had been restrained and gagged on their own gurneys. The details were fuzzy, but Hazel remembered being injected with something incandescent and then screaming for days. During this time, the marks on their chests were burned into their skin._

_He explained to the girls that they were special. They all had a history of magic in their families. They just needed to awaken their magic. After the ritual was completed, the other girls disappeared. Demons came by to get them, often giving them new names. The piano player was called Bastion by the demon that picked her up. Everybody except Hazel._

"_You're the most special of all." He said and kissed her. "So pretty. I'll call you Diligence."_

_Hazel was with him for another month before things started to change. More and more demons came by. One night, she recognized one of the buyers came back chuckling, saying that it was time._

_She was led somewhere, but unsure where. The buildings seemed to swell from the ground and the streets were slick. Off in the distance, she could see various towers and spikes. She knew she was in hell. A crowed of lesser demons followed her and the other two men around, sometimes being swatted off._

_She saw the other girls and their masters gathered in a circle below a swirling green spot in the otherwise black sky. "Diligence. You're going to be the first of the girls to go." He whispered to her. "I may not be powerful, but I'm the one who found you all and found the ritual. That was enough for me to buy you."_

V***V

"They took us all back." Hazel explained. "To our world. I don't remember many of the details, but I remember I killed him when we got back. Everybody arrived at different places, so I could run. I spent six months running- stealing money from people and never staying in one place for very long.

"Natalya found me, I don't know how. I was eating breakfast at a fast food place and she sat down across me. Told me she knew what I was. Offered to help me learn if I went with her, so I did. She took me to the coven- there were mainly women there, but also some men too. I learned all the spells I know today. Demons caught me though. I had two years more than the other girls, so I can't complain. That's when I was brought to the prison. The demons there were trying to produce a child. Another half-demon to be born past the seal- but they said it had to be a witch's child or the seal would still affect it. It had to have a claim to power in this world. I was at the bloody prison until I escaped the other day." Hazel finished.

"Did they… succeed?" Dante asked carefully.

"Not that I know of. I don't know if they had any confidence in what they were doing. I think… I think they were just experimenting. We were just pets. One of the demons that guarded me said that they intended to train us and make us fight for them, but when I escaped- they realized how dangerous they had made us."

"Well it's over at least for now, babe." Dante offered with a smile.

"We don't know that." Hazel frowned.


	3. Chapter 3

**TW: Minor mention of rape.**

**For those who didn't know- Iron has "purifying" properties in lore and anything supernatural doesn't quite work right. In theory, the more evil something is, the more fucked it is by iron. Same with silver and salt. However, like each rock has a paper and a scissor, certain things are weaker to some but immune to others. I'm mixing real-life lore with DMC cannon, so if something isn't quite like it is in either… that's why.**

**V***V**

Hazel was wearing her clothes from five years ago; they were in her bag and stuffed in a closet in the basement. They had been a little dusty, but Dante had washed them and now they were… certainly better than what she was in before. They were huge on her. She was too skinny, she thought to herself. Hazel had spent an hour trying to wash her hair, but now she stood in front of the mirror in Vergil's bathroom, looking at the messy clumps of hair stuck to her head. It had been decided that since less people come through Vergil's house, she would stay with him for now.

Hazel walked into the living room, where she saw Vergil flicking through an old book- likely trying to do some research on witches. "Hey, Vergil?" She began.

"Yes?" He asked without looking up.

"Could you help me cut my hair? None of this will wash out." She gestured to the mess on her head. Hazel had once taken a lot of pride in her hair, but she couldn't do anything with it. It was only a reminder of her imprisonment and it needed to go if it couldn't be cleaned through.

Vergil flicked his eyes up from the book and looked at Hazel. "It will likely need to all be seared. You understand this?"

"Yeah." She said with a laugh. "It's pretty gross, you have to admit."

"Hn. Bring a chair and a towel into the back yard and I will be out in a moment." Vergil took off his jacket and went to collect shears. When he went outside, he saw Hazel sitting on a chair and looking up into the sky, a faint smile on her lips. It had been a day since she completed the story and then started to stay with Vergil. The peculiar girl seemed to keep to herself, reading one of Vergil's books or watching television quietly.

"I think I should get a job." She said after Vergil had cut out a few clumps of her messy and ragged hair. "Having something to occupy my thoughts will help, ya know?"

"I will not keep you here like a captive, but I think you should concentrate on being able to control your powers and recovering from your imprisonment." Vergil cut another clump of hair out. "You are in hiding, also. Every person who sees you will increase your chance of being found."

"I know." Hazel looked down. "When I'm not starved or recovering I'm rather dangerous, Vergil. I want them to find me if I cannot find them." Chunks of her hair were amassing on the ground. "If it'll make you feel better, I can wait until I've recovered and retrained myself some of the spells."

"Do as you wish, just don't do it on a whim. Dante and I both have said we will help you find the demons again when you are up to it. It would make it hard to help or protect you if you lay in a ditch somewhere."

"I… you're right. I just don't want to sit here doing nothing all day." Hazel wanted to argue, but she saw Vergil's point and couldn't think of anything to counter it.

"I have some books on witchcraft you may read. It may help you remember or learn some incantations."

"Thank you."

"If you use anything against Dante or me, we will kill you. Make no mistake."

"You don't trust me?" Hazel wanted to be able to see his face, but she couldn't turn around without risking him cutting her ear or something.

"I think that you have the centuries old powers of a prevailing witch. I do not think that you are actively against us, but I have no reason to trust you." Vergil answered while going through her hair methodically. Vergil was halfway done, the short pieces of her hair less than half an inch. "That you come back after the final harvest, when people with our kinds of power can be at their strongest says something else. Either you aren't telling us something, or you do not know the entire story."

Hazel frowned at that. "Of course I don't know the whole fucking story, Vergil." She laughed out. "Most of what I picked up was from guards talking outside of my cell. I doubt that they would say those things in English and in range of a prisoner. But they definitely acted like they wanted a baby on one of us. I'm not going to pretend I know what demons' motivations are. I told you I don't know much about the ritual, either."

"Well, that remains to be seen. There is an answer in your powers, if not in your memories. I am sure of it."

"Is that why I'm staying with you and not Dante? You want to figure me out?" Hazel asked, disgusted by the revelation.

"It is one of my goals. As it is one of yours. I do not like to deal with unknown quantities, girl."

"Please don't call me that." Hazel bit her lip. "I've gone three years without a name; I would like to have one again."

"As you wish, Hazel." Vergil finished with her hair. "I'm done. Bring the chair back inside when you come in."

Hazel ran her hand through her hair, it was very short. It made her head feel a lot lighter, though and that made her stop doubting her freedom more than anything else. She brought the chair in and set it back down, her shirt rising slightly in the back. "Your markings extend to your back?" She heard Vergil ask.

"No. They're just on my collarbones." Hazel quirked an eyebrow and twisted around, trying to see her back.

"May I?" Vergil walked to her and gently touched her back. Hazel nodded and lifted the back of her shirt up, trying to see the pattern unsuccessfully. Vergil traced the pattern around to her hips and softly ran his thumb over them on her rib cage. Hazel kept the shirt on over her breasts, holding it to herself and looking at the pattern on her stomach.

"This… this is new." Hazel stuttered. "Or at least new to me." She wondered how she didn't notice it when she changed. Or maybe she did and she was simply too tired for it to register.

"It looked like a lotus on your back." Vergil said as he wondered the significance of the different appearances.

"And on my stomach and collarbones? They don't look familiar at all."

"Those are glyphs on your stomach. If I wanted to hex an object, those may be some symbols I would carve into it."

"And on my collarbones?" Hazel ran her fingers over the wing-like design.

"Those are simply a mark of magic. I don't know the exact meaning, but it roughly translates to born of magic. It means the wearer was born a witch. There are many variations on it, and sadly I am not as fluent in the language of spells as I am Demonic or English."

"I thought that spells were all Latin or something. Natalya only ever taught me ones that sounded like Latin."

"They were people who were enchanted by the idea of magic and studied what little bit of the tongue that could be translated. Real magic is in its own language- otherwise anybody could learn it."

"You said that these were for hexes?" Hazel traced the pattern gently across her stomach. "What hexes?"

"Protection." Vergil answered quietly as Dante knocked and then walked into his twin's home.

The elder twin stood abruptly when Dante walked into the room. "Hey, I can come back later, if you need me to." He joked as he saw Hazel fixing her shirt and Vergil straightening.

"I assume you came for a reason, Dante? Normally you have no issue with pestering me over the phone." Vergil swept his hair back as Hazel went to get a snack from the fridge.

"I was just passing through here on my way home. Thought I'd drop in and make sure you two were okay." He shrugged as he took a seat. "I like the haircut, babe, I really do." Dante said with a nod to Hazel.

"Thank you." Hazel said quickly as she ran a hand over her head, sitting down with the bunch of grapes.

"Hazel has glyphs of protection etched into her skin as well as a lotus." Vergil began. "Both in the style of her original markings."

"The fuck does that mean?" Dante asked easily, stealing one of Hazel's grapes.

"Well protection means that one is safe." Hazel joked, a smirk on her face. "And a lotus is a flower."

"You're helpful." Dante countered dryly. "Verge? Do you know anything more?"

"They are not demonic in script." Vergil said carefully. "I'm unsure if this came from a ritual or if…" He trailed off, flicking his gaze on Hazel.

"You think I made them?" Hazel asked, intrigued. "So, outside of the iron, I can't control them?" She offered. Dante and Hazel were both expecting an answer from Vergil. "That could be problematic." Hazel added when Vergil didn't answer her, running a hand over her head again.

"Do you remember doing anything with your magic that may have summoned them?" Vergil asked her, hoping this could have an easy fix.

"I haven't cast any spells since the lightening."

"Your markings then took a while to surface. You did not have them when you first came to Dante's shop."

Hazel blushed slightly at the implications of the sentence. "I almost had a panic attack. Maybe that was what 'summoned' them."

"So your emotions may be controlling them." Vergil sighed. "That is not good news."

"Why not? She's not especially unstable." Dante said, picking up another of Hazel's grapes.

"I have panic attacks, Dante." She said quietly, handing the rest of the grapes to him, her appetite gone. "By some miracle I haven't had one yet, but they're unpredictable."

"Well, to date it only appears to be affecting your markings, so that's something."

"Yeah, for now." Hazel slouched in her seat. "But the only solution is for me to pop Valiums or clasp myself in iron again." Hazel stood up. "I need to be alone, excuse me." She left, slipping on shoes, going for a walk. Vergil's house was on a side street off a minor highway. It was like a secluded suburban area. She walked down the row of shabby houses until she came to a cul-de-sac, with a playground off to a side. Hazel sat in one of the swings, the cool wind chilling her. She would feel normal for a moment, and then remember everything. Hazel wasn't sure how long she was out there, but it was getting to be dark when Vergil came up to her.

"You need to come back inside. It's cold out, and you just got better." He said calmly.

"Yeah." She agreed, but made no sign of moving.

"Are you… all right?" He asked slowly.

"No." She answered. "I feel like shit. I used to dream of being magical, when I was younger." Hazel said with a bitter laugh. "I loved to think about how I could escape from my boring life. I would think about it for a few minutes, and then I would realize all the reasons it wouldn't work. And then Jay… told me everything when I was thirteen. About his job and all that. I hated thinking that I brought this on myself then, and I hate to think that I used to want it now."

"There's no point in moping, Hazel." He almost called her girl, but her earlier plea stuck with him. "You'll learn to control it, or you won't and you won't need to worry about it."

Hazel laughed slightly. "I don't think anybody has ever threatened me to calm me down before." She laughed more, the true realization hitting her. Her body shook as her laugh grew more prevalent. Vergil was starting to worry about the girl having hysterics when she started to calm down. "You're frightening." She said when she was down laughing, standing up and starting to walk back to his house.

"And you're laughing at me." He said dryly. "You're very odd."

"What should I do, then? Should I cry more? That wouldn't help either of us. I'm… getting okay. Thank you." She said as they stepped onto his porch.

"Nobody has ever thanked me for threatening them." Vergil remarked as he unlocked and opened his door. "You're welcome, Hazel." He added quietly as she went off to her room.

V***V

"So should I fear death?" She asked him the next morning. "Should I be cowering every time you walk into the room?" Hazel picked at the eggs on her plate before salting them.

"I am more powerful than you." Vergil allowed, wondering where she was going.

"That's true." Hazel took a bite of her eggs. "But you wouldn't hunt me while I'm like this. I'm still recovering and I would make very poor game. That would be boring and dishonorable. You'd only attack me if I made the first move."

"You seem to be in a cheerier mode." Vergil deflected what she brought up; unsettled that she could make that apt of an observation.

"Yes, I suppose a bit. But should I fear death?" She repeated herself.

"Are you asking if you're in a situation to fear it, or if it should be feared?" Vergil put down his book, leaning into the table and into the conversation.

"Both?" Hazel shrugged, taking another bite.

"Well, you seem to have decided that I won't kill you unless you commence a brawl between us. I doubt you would fear your own intentions. As for death in general… I suppose it depends on whether you fear the unknown or not."

"But also, the point of life is to reproduce and to keep living. I could fear failure."

"Then have children."

"I'm still dying. That's failing."

"Do you fear failure? Why bring this up, Hazel?" He asked while taking a sip of coffee.

"I don't know. I just thought that we should have a conversation." She shrugged while finishing her eggs and starting on her toast. "I've only been talking to myself for three years, save the last week. I've missed people."

"I'm hardly somebody you could have missed."

"I don't know you; of course I didn't miss you. I wasn't joking about the game of risk, though. Would you like to finish it?"

"Another time, perhaps," Vergil took the last sip of his coffee and stood. "Are you done with your plate?" He took it when she said yes, placing it in the dishwasher. "I would like to show you something." Vergil waited for Hazel to stand, and then guided her into his study. There were books crammed into the room. Many, many books.

"Those," he began, pointing to one bookshelf, "are about demonic customs and factions. And these," He tapped the one he was standing next to, "are about magic. I advise reading the magic ones first, but when you have recovered, if you still want to hunt down the demons that took you captive, you will need to know more about them."

"Oh. Thank you."

"For now, study the theories only. We will worry about your casting when you are better."

"So I shouldn't read anything aloud?" She replied quickly.

"Not unless you want to fail." Vergil joked back while exiting the room.

V***V

For months, Hazel read. She read and read, until she had some of the books memorized. Sometimes she would take it to her room, other times she fell asleep over the book she was working on in the kitchen, study, or common room. Vergil would sometimes work with Dante; sometimes he would read beside her.

Hazel went out a few times, like when she needed to get clothing at the beginning of her stay. Other times one of the twins would take her someplace secluded where she could practice her spells, usually Vergil, as they both preferred Dante stay with the business.

Her hair had started to grow, but she kept it shaved; she seemed fine. It was well into February when she brought up demons to Vergil again. "Can I help you and Dante hunt? I still want to find the prison, if we can." She said lightly, sitting down next to Vergil on his couch. "I think I should practice."

"You believe you are well?" He asked dryly.

"Well, yeah, look how toned I am." She joked, flexing her arms in a silly posture. She chuckled at her own joke briefly. "I think I'm ready, yes. I can do this." Hazel steadied her gaze to look Vergil in the eye.

"Dante and I have a job coming up." Vergil sighed. "We are not sure what to expect. You will have to steel your nerves, Hazel. Think of everything that will mean- you don't know what you're walking into. You can think you're prepared, think you know about everything. You may even have a good knowledge base on the different classes of demons. But one second of doubt, you could die. You've almost had a fit from cold water before. Like I said when you first started to stay here- I will not keep you here like a prisoner, but you need to be sure."

Hazel flushed slightly as she took in the weight from his words. "I know." Hazel bit her lip slightly, still holding Vergil's gaze. This wasn't something she could just power through and it wasn't something that she had to just jump in and get passed. The only thing she could hope for was that her brain wouldn't hit that switch. Hazel was lucky it was only a mild issue for her and she could go on with cognitive therapy, as opposed to medicine.

"What would you do if it was a cave-in?" Vergil asked. "Or it you were trapped in a crowded room?"

"Would you be there?" Hazel asked dryly.

"I will protect you, as I told you I would." Vergil answered seriously.

"Then I'll be fine. A constant is what helps. I can't promise I'll be spectacular on this first job, but I will be okay."

"We'll leave Thursday morning. Likely, we will be gone until Saturday. Pack a bag, we will need to leave swiftly and I will not wait for you."

"Thank you." Hazel said after a moment, running a hand along her head as if she meant to push back hair.

"Have you mastered the armor spell?" Vergil inquired casually while taking a sip of his tea.

"Close. I'm better with the shield." Hazel admitted softly. Vergil had, at first, kept very close tabs on what spells she was learning and her progress with each. Recently, he had felt comfortable enough around her that he permitted her to watch herself. "Do you want to see?"

"Sure." Vergil sighed and put down his drink as Hazel sat up straighter and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, her eyes were the same black as her markings instead of the usual tepid green.

"Okay, throw something at me." Hazel said. Vergil picked up a pillow from the couch and whipped it at her. She raised one hand slightly and the pillow bounced from six inches where it would have hit her and flew back with the same force. Vergil caught it easily and set it down.

"Impressive." Vergil nodded slightly.

Hazel giggled slightly while she let the spell dissipate, causing Vergil to raise an eyebrow at her. "Did we just have a pillow fight?" She asked with the small laugh still present in her voice.

Vergil smirked slightly and rubbed at his forehead. "Would you like to practice? I haven't taken you to the field in a while."

"Actually, I've been practicing in the woods. There is a clearing next to a river that I use. Would you like to come? I could show you some of the other spells I've done." Hazel offered with lazily slouched shoulders. Even though she had gained back weight, she was still scrawny. She looked, and Vergil loathed admitting this, rather adorable. The thought that she could be dangerous was almost a comical one. But he had seen her cast spells and waved away the thought before more like it could come and flood his head.

"Are you offering a duel?"

"Uh… if you want." She answered with a shrug. "I'm not sure how good I'd be, but any practice is fine, right?"

"You're not worried?" Vergil leaned towards her slightly.

"I don't think I should be." She moved an imaginary piece of hair again- still not used to having no hair. "Do you think I should be?"

"I won't kill you. Let's duel." Vergil stood form the couch and grabbed his jacket on the way out the back door. He brought a spare sword he had with him, one with dull edges and a shorter blade than his prized Yamato. Hazel had to pull on her boots and jacket, so Vergil waited on his porch for her.

She had a simple pea-coat that she wore over leggings and boots, dressed both for combat and for the weather. Vergil noticed her choosing of clothes and wondered if it was intentional or not. "Lead the way," Vergil gestured out through the lazy back yard. There wasn't a fence and the neighbors judged by eye if their children or pets were running amok. There were some children out, thrilled at being out of school and at the snow. Hazel didn't pay them mind and walked down to a path in the woods, acknowledging them only with a nod of her head.

"It's down this path a ways and then up the river." Hazel said with a smile back toward Vergil. "Normally I would jog there… but the snow…" She trailed off, too many thoughts assaulting her at once.

"I understand." Vergil replied. It wouldn't due to spend their energy before they even got started.

"I used to love the snow." Her breath flew out steamily. "But now I think it's just annoying. It's cold and annoying." She kicked at the powder, sending some up to be caught in the light breeze. "I guess it's kind of pretty, though." A while into walking, a kitten started to follow them.

Vergil looked at it disdainfully, but Hazel stopped to pick him up. "Hey, little guy." She patted him gently, his fur almost blending him in with the snow. "He's been out here the last couple of times I've come." Hazel explained and held him under her chin carefully. "I've never seen any other cats out and he doesn't wear a collar, otherwise I would just return him."

"It's nature's way of culling the flock and separating the weak from the strong. Put him down."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. He just seems so domesticated, though." Hazel set the little thing back down. "At least winter is almost over, the poor guy." She stood back up and continued down the path, the little kitten bouncing and jumping, trying to keep up with her.

"He seems domesticated because that's how he'll trick people into feeding or caring for him." Vergil said, admitting to himself that it was smart behavior.

"That's how nature separates the weak form the strong, Vergil." Hazel teased with a small smile on her face. The rest of the walk was uneventful and quiet. "It's just up ahead." Hazel declared after another ten or so minutes.

They stood in the clearing awkwardly for a moment before Hazel took off her jacket, setting it at the base of the tree, where the kitten curled up. She stood in the middle and stretched slightly before she closed her eyes and once again they went from a lazy green to an inky black. The contrast of the black irises to the pale skin and surrounding eye was extraordinary to Vergil and he caught himself staring at her for a moment.

"Okay," she cleared her throat and assumed a fighting stance. "Come at me, I guess." She said while giving him a small smile that looked rather startling with her slightly lustrous markings and her suddenly dark eyes.

The fight was… interesting, to say the least. It was obvious to Vergil that she had never faced an opponent, or at least one wielding a sword. Her footwork was awkward at first, but she learned fairly quickly. She was very good at blocking, but it wasn't until she accidently broke his dummy sword that he realized how good she had gotten.

He put down the broken thing and they carried on with hand-to-hand, Vergil also removing his coat after a while of that. Hazel wasn't the sarcastic bumble that had been staying with him when she was fighting- she was cunning and responsive- she knew when to knock him back with a stunning spell and when to let him bounce off a forcefield, as well as knowing when she had an opening for an offensive spell. She was obviously putting a lot of effort into it, as the girl was drenched in sweat, her tee shirt becoming see-through the more they went at it.

They paused for a minute and Hazel peeled the sticky shirt off, standing in her sports bra and leggings, panting for moment. "This is intense." She joked, flashing him a bright smile. She straightened back up and resumed a stance just in time to deflect a blow from Vergil. This round, they heard somebody walking up right as Hazel had loosed a spell. Hazel quickly pulled Vergil back by his arm and leaned up to him as somebody walked into the clearing. They looked like they were pulling away sheepishly, not stopping a spar. The young woman laughed and left with her apology.

"What was that?" Vergil demanded of her when the stranger had left.

"Should I have continued to throw spells at you?" Hazel rolled her eyes. "Relax, Vergil I just touched your face, I didn't jump you." She laughed slightly.

"Hn." He frowned slightly at the unwelcome touch.

"Maybe we should go back." She offered as she snapped the jacket on, placing the kitten on the ground. Vergil followed her after a moment, having picked up his broken sword and pulled his own jacket back on. "Do you want to talk about my form?" She asked when he caught up to her.

Vergil immediately thought of the pun and almost groaned to himself when he thought of her previously exposed midriff. "You are still a novice, but admittedly I feel better knowing that you can handle yourself. You should practice bouncing on your toes- your footwork was rather sloppy. But your blocking was good and you seemed to have a good sense of when to attack and when to retreat."

"Not well enough, you got past my forcefield a few times. But I guess that's when the armor spell would come in handy, so I'll practice that." Hazel sighed. "And footwork. I used to do ballet, so maybe I'll try those stretches again."

"They may come in handy. Dance requires a lot of muscle control and strength."

"It's deceiving." Hazel agreed. "It looks so easy and graceful."

"Has casting the spells become easier at all?"

"In a sense, yes. It doesn't take as much concentration to be able to cast them, but it's like I turn something on and off and I'm in a 'mode' to cast spells." She used air-quotes around the word mode, making Vergil smirk for some reason. "But now I feel like I could use a nap." She added when they made it to his porch. "So I'm going to. Thank you for the practice Vergil." She bowed slightly before walking to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.


	4. Bonus Chapter or Deleted Scene

**Bonus chapter for my extended and unexpected absence. My health is kind of shaky which means that I have more time to write, but less means to do so. So updates may range from several times per week to once a month. Sorry. But enjoy a deleted scenes chapter. If you follow all of my stories, I should go back to updating one every Friday soon.**

**The scenes take place over Hazel's montage-like winter of learning and healing.**

**V***V**

Hazel rubbed at her eyes while she was reading, the light had gone down from the window, requiring her to get up and turn on the overhead light. "Hazel, put the book down. It's time to eat." She heard Vergil warn from the doorway after she had resumed reading.

"Just let me finish this chapter, Vergil." Hazel pleaded even though she knew she wouldn't win.

"No. You need to eat, Hazel." He said more sternly. Hazel sighed and placed her marker in the book carefully before closing it and standing up, rubbing at her eyes again as she stretched. Vergil noted the behavior just as he noticed that the markings on her stomach hadn't changed. She walked into the kitchen and sat down.

"Thanks, Vergil." She said at the made plate of food.

"Do your eyes hurt?" Vergil asked her as he sat down with his own plate of food.

"No. Well… yes, but not from the lack of glasses, if you're worried about that. I hadn't realized how dark it had gotten in there…" She trailed off and took a bite of the pasta Vergil had made.

"Your eyes may be used to the lack of wearing glasses, but do you need them?" Vergil offered, knowing that something like that would cause her headaches and could cause extreme discomfort.

"No." Hazel took another bite before looking him in the eye. "And I would absolutely be able to tell. My prescription was very bad. Or good- it was my eyes that were bad." She looked down again for a moment before meeting his gaze again. "My panic attacks also are a lot less of a problem. It was like I wasn't a complete person before that damned ritual and it healed me. I hate to think that I was meant for this. But the other girls were just as damaged. One was deaf for fuck's sake." She stabbed pasta onto her fork, failing to meet his gaze again. "That's why I told Dante not to feel bad and it's why you shouldn't. They obviously did their research." She gave a bitter chuckle and moved the food around her plate lazily, quickly losing interest in it.

Vergil didn't know what he could say so he just took a bite of his food. "Maybe I should thank them- if they hadn't fixed me up I wouldn't be able to hunt them down." Hazel joked after a few uncomfortable minutes, her voice shaky with laughter. Vergil joined her with a small chuckle of his own. "That's fucked up." She added while calming from her laughter.

V***V

"Why did you insist on coming, Dante?" Vergil rolled his eyes at his younger brother's latest joke.

"Hey, don't make me turn this car around." Hazel joked, flicking her eyes to Dante in the back seat and then Vergil beside her. "Honestly, it was just a little flirting, you will survive." She directed at the dour twin. "You said a left up here?" Hazel nodded at the upcoming intersection.

"Yes, and stay on this road for about five miles. I don't know why you insisted on driving to a place you've never been." Vergil aimed his frown at her.

"Hey, I haven't driven in like four years, let me have this." Hazel smacked him lightly on the arm. "I will say that I don't remember driving in snow to be this difficult, though." She laughed slightly.

"You're insane." Dante laughed. "I like that in a woman, ya know."

"Oh, shut up, Dante." Hazel said with a loose smile. "Nobody is interested in your flirting."

"Are you sure, babe? I can usually tell when I'm not wanted." Dante teased back, catching her eye in the mirror and waggling his eyebrows.

"Just because you two are attractive doesn't mean I'm going to jump into your bed, Dante." She added with a smile.

"All right, all right." He held up his hands with a smile.

"It's odd to think my last boyfriend was almost six years ago." She sighed and neither twin said anything. The remaining three minutes felt long and stretched out.

"Pull over up here." Vergil instructed, breaking the tense air.

Hazel sloppily pulled over and turned around on the cul-de-sac. "A baseball field?" She asked with hesitation in her voice. "Isn't this a little well-traveled?"

"Not really, babe, Hazel." Dante corrected himself, having received the same plea that Vergil did to please call her by her name. "We used to play here when we were little." He said quietly, his voice and face serious for a moment. "Nobody comes down here."

"And it is winter, so even if they did, I suppose it wouldn't matter." Hazel stopped the car and unbuckled. "Okay." She got out of the car, her boots sinking slightly into the snow outside. Hazel ran her hands through the powdery snow before making fists in it, compacting some of it. She gathered a small ball of it and threw it at Vergil as he got out of the car.

He turned to her, scowling mildly. Hazel couldn't help but chuckle at his angry expression and ran away before he could retaliate, messily making her way into the middle of the field. Vergil's scowl fell at the sound of her laughter, which made Dante chuckle slightly. The older twin looked back at Dante and frowned again, trying to make it seem like he hadn't stopped.

"So that's why you both didn't like it when I flirted with her." He leaned against the car, standing next to Vergil.

"Shut up, Dante." Vergil said darkly.

"Whatever." Dante shrugged. This wasn't worth a fight, and honestly- he was a little happy for his brother. He doubted it would turn into anything, but a little crush would be good for him. "What's she doing?" Dante nodded at Hazel, who was taking off her jacket and boots, flinging her jacket over a part of the chain link fence.

"Getting cold." Vergil answered simply.

Dante quirked a small frown at him before walking up to Hazel, Vergil in tow. "Hey. Whatcha doin'? It's cold out here, Hazel."

"I'm getting cold." She answered simply, shrugging off her shirt before taking off her jeans, leaving her in athletic shorts and a sports bra. "It'll help me learn how to summon it, as well as fire. I need to understand what I'm calling in order to call for it. I figured this was better than the alternative."

"Uhhh…" Dante wasn't quite sure how to comment on that.

"Don't worry, I'll put my clothes back on before I catch frostbite or give Vergil an aneurism." Hazel joked as a shiver wracked through her as she buried her toes into the snow.

The lotus on her back turned to an icy blue as Hazel summoned a small ball of ice around her hand, which she flung off and it sunk into a snow drift. Hazel called ice to her a few times before she started with fire. When the tremors were near constant before she pulled her clothes back on. The twins had leaned against the fence and talked quietly about various things, none of which Hazel could hear. She jumped back into her jeans and fastened them with shaky hands, noting that the glyphs of protection across her stomach were gone.

After she had on her boots and shirt, Vergil rushed her and picked her up and over his shoulder before throwing her into the snowdrift. "Hey!" She popped back up, shaking the snow off her head before stumbling out. Hazel flung a gust of wind past her, pelting Vergil with it, and all the snow it caught, in his face. Dante laughed loudly from his place on the fence as Vergil brushed off his shoulders. Hazel snapped on her jacket as the dapper twin threw a clump of snow at his rowdy younger brother. Soon it was an all-out war between the three of them, Hazel abandoning her magic for the most part.

An end was called when Hazel's face was a bright red, but her lips were blue, the trudge back to the car filled with good humor. As Dante congratulated her on her magic.

"All right, so since I beat you, you're going to buy me dinner, right?" Hazel tossed the keys to Vergil as she sat in the passenger seat.

Dante raised his eyebrows as Vergil nodded. He climbed into the back seat and laughed when Vergil and Hazel had to readjust their seats. "God, you two are tall."

"You're just petite and trivial." Vergil fixed his hair, which had fallen out of his ponytail during the fight.

"Hey! I'm almost average height." Hazel buckled in. "I don't really care, where we go, as long as it's got warm food." She turned the heat all the way up and stuck her hands in front of the vent.

"The next time you challenge Dante and I to a battle, make sure you can handle it. If you had done that this time, you wouldn't be so cold."

"Shut up." Hazel pouted, flicking a drop of water at Vergil.

"Dante, would you like to join us for dinner?" Vergil offered as he pulled out.

"Of course, who else would chaperone you two?"

Hazel snorted at that, causing her to cough on the water she had brought along. Her sputtering turned to laughter, which made Vergil blush slightly- the barest hint of pink on his ears and cheeks. "You have a very active imagination of what dinner entails, Dante." She managed through laughter.

V***V

"My driving wasn't that bad." Hazel insisted as she sat in the passenger seat, looking out the window in mock apathy.

"You hit the ditch several times, and then admitted that you didn't remember how to drive in snow." Vergil answered back. "When the snow has melted, you can drive all you want, but I'd rather make it to Dante's in one piece."

"I'll bet you've never said that before."

"He closes the shop every year and invites over Lady, Trish, and Lucia. If I don't come, he'll just drive over to my house and break my locks. Rather hypocritical he allows Lucia and Trish to disregard him, however."

"Well, it is a holiday. That's a good time to be cheery, you know… In case you wanted to try it out."

"Is that what you got me? Good cheer?" Vergil tried to tease a response out of her.

"It ruins it if it's not a surprise, Vergil." Hazel looked back to him. "There are toddlers who can handle suspense better than you. I'm not trying to figure out what you got me every few minutes, am I?"

"I do not ask every few minutes." He insisted, the rest of the drive an easy quiet.

Hazel got out and took her purse with her before walking up to Dante at his door and giving him a hug before going inside. "Dante, you cleaned." She poked him and joked. "It's a Christmas miracle." Hazel sat down on the sofa next to Lady. "Hey, Lady."

"How has Vergil been treating you?" Lady began. "Is he as insufferable in his own house?"

"Not at all, he's a perfectly domestic gentleman." Hazel flicked her gaze to him for a second before looking back at Lady. "He cooks and everything, you should see him- he has an apron."

"Quit telling your lies, girl." Vergil said as he claimed a seat.

"Aww, I bet you'd look cute in an apron, Verge." Dante teased as he handed Hazel a glass of wine and Lady a glass of whisky.

"We look the same, you jack ass." Vergil teased.

"Whatever." Dante shrugged as he picked up a badly wrapped package and tossed it to Hazel, before handing the one next to it to Lady and the one next to that to Vergil.

"Did you wrap this yourself?" Lady teased.

"Yeah. Tell me what you think, open 'em!" Dante urged.

Hazel opened hers first and put the hat on her head before looking at her reflection in the window. "Hey, I look like a girl again, thanks Dante!"

"Well, I figured your head would get cold." He laughed as she shook her head and took a sip of her wine.

Lady got a charm, apparently some hidden significance there, and Vergil got a 3d puzzle of a squid, another inside joke that Hazel figured she was missing out on.

"Me next." Lady said and handed out much more neatly wrapped packages. This time, Hazel got a ballerina figurine that balanced perfectly on the dancer's foot, Dante got a small plant, and Vergil got a wrap for Yamato's handle.

"I'll go next." Hazel stood up and passed everybody their presents, a cleaning kit and book on different types of rockets for Lady, and an old bottle of whisky for Dante. She handed Vergil his present last, smirking at his anxiousness. "We still haven't finished our game, Vergil." She said after he opened it, sitting back down and taking a small sip of her wine.

"If it will suit you, we can play in a moment." Vergil said as he handed out presents. A set of fantasy novels for Hazel, a new aiming scope for Lady, which she opened with a snort- and a small model of Rebellion with a note for Dante.

The final chorus of thanks rang out and then Dante and Lady shifted so they could watch a game that was on. Hazel and Vergil set up there unfinished game and played that, Hazel sipping at her wine the entire time. Hazel won, slowly but surely. They started a new game, Hazel going through thee more glasses of wine. She lost that game, but Vergil seemed more amused than his normal smug sense of superiority.

Hazel was a funny drunk, however. She told funny stories of about when she was little and growing up. "Anyway, so I was getting this brat his waffles, and when I get back, he's just eating his eggs, nice and calm. I placed the waffles down on his table and he asked me for jelly. Then his grandmother, who must have been in her sixties or seventies, said 'I don't think you're ready for the jelly', completely serious." Hazel paused to laugh. "It was so ridiculous; I just burst out laughing, right in the middle of my section."

"So they fired you?"

"Yeah, on my first day." Hazel laughed again. "I've never been very good at keeping jobs." She tucked her feet under her and laughed again.

"Have you ever been drunk before?" Lady asked with smirk.

"No. I was a good kid in High School. And college. Jay was always very protective of me, I had a beer one time and he took away my phone and computer for two months. He said he always wanted me to have perfect perception and wits."

The evening went on, Dante telling a few stories to Hazel and Lady about him and Vergil growing up. Hazel fell asleep on the couch, the markings on her stomach glowing and shining through her shirt. "That's weird." Dante nodded to the unconscious witch on his couch. "Has it happened before?"

"Yes. We've noticed that they disappear when she is using her magic, but they shine when she sleeps."

"You watch her when she sleeps?"

"She makes it a habit to fall asleep on my couch." Vergil stood and gathered their things. "I should bring her home. She will likely regret drinking when she wakes up."

"Yeah, yeah, go play doctor." Dante chuckled as Vergil flipped him the bird before he picked up Hazel from the couch, holding her carefully.

V***V

"Is Dante sure it's a good idea to close the shop tonight?" Hazel asked, casually lighting her fingers on fire and blowing them out.

"Stop that." Vergil lightly swatted at her hand. "It may not be a good idea, but Dante does it every year. I thought you would want to celebrate the coming of a new year, was I wrong?"

"No. You're never wrong." She added as she rolled into a laying position on her stomach, taking up the entirety of the couch. Hazel rolled her back and flexed her legs, trying to stretch out some kink in her muscles.

"Why do you do that?" Vergil made a flipping gesture with his hand.

"Why do I do what?" Hazel asked through a yawn, rolling onto her side to face Vergil.

"That. Lounge and twist about. You're like a cat."

"Because I need to stretch a lot. Otherwise you'd have to hear me bitch about how sore my muscles are. What's it matter?" She rolled back onto her back, sticking out her chest slightly and rolling her legs again.

Vergil thought about saying something on how distracting she was, but he decided against it. It was bad enough she was always wearing tight clothing, but when she twisted and flexed about, it was just too much. Of course, Vergil knew that the fault lay with him for not being able to look away- but regardless he hated when she did it. He didn't want to bring up his weakness to the girl. "Nothing, I suppose. Are you ready? Dante said he wanted us over for dinner."

"I suppose." Hazel sat up. "Let me just get my sweater, I'll go lounge on Dante's couch- I'm sure he won't be bothered." She looked at him with a smirk and Vergil wondered if she knew how distracting she was to him.

The evening was uneventful, Lady was over again and the four of them traded stories. When midnight struck and so the new day began, Hazel stood on her toes and kissed Vergil on the cheek, holding him down by the collar, and laughed when he pulled away sharply.


End file.
